jamescameronstitanicfandomcom-20200215-history
Talk:Edward John Smith/@comment-5307525-20130606095359/@comment-92.9.69.44-20141125222302
Actually he was courage; Capt. Smith was quite active from all these eyewitness accounts in overseeing the loading and launching of the boats. There is no evidence he suffered a breakdown. Captain Smith was extremely busy during the whole evacuation. The wireless operator had great difficulty just finding him because he was never in the same place twice for long. He had to oversee the entire evacuation from all deck departments and figure out what had to be done and to make sure it was carried out. Here are survivor accounts in the rough order they happened. Everything happened so fast. Not easy to evacuate an entire ship in under 2 hours. Captain Smith was tall, full whiskered and broad. At first sight you would think to yourself “Here’s a typical Western Ocean Captain.” “Bluff, hearty, and I’ll bet he’s got a voice like a foghorn.” As a matter of fact, he had a pleasant, quiet voice and an invariable smile. A voice he rarely raised above a conversational tone, not to say he couldn’t; in fact, I have often heard him bark an order that made a man come to himself with a bump. He was a great favourite, and many an officer would give his ears to sail under. I had served with him for many years." After the collision. Charles Mackay He saw the Captain walking down the Grand staircase. James Johnson He saw the Captain and Thomas Andrews walking down to the engine room. Paul Mauge Saw the Captain in the engine room. Charles Stengel Saw the Captain walking up the staircase. August Weikman Met the Captain returning from the engine room with Thomas Andrews. Harold Bride (wireless operator) "The Captain told us that we had better get assistance. He came into the wireless room at frequent intervals. He asked Mr. Phillips what other ships he was in communication with. The Captain worked out our co-ordinates and calculated the difference between us and the Carpathia. He kept in communication with us. We either went to him or he came to us." Thomas Olliver It was too noisy to telephone the engine room because of the steam escaping. The Captain gave him a hand written note and told him to deliver it to the Chief Engineer. Helen Bishop "I saw Colonel Astor talking to the Captain on the Grand Stair Case. The Captain told him something in an undertone. The Captain came over and told us to put on our life belts." Robert Hichens Heard the Captain say “Prepare the lifeboats and serve out the belts.” Samuel Hemming The Captain told him to make sure the lifeboats were properly provided with lamps. 2nd officer Charles Lightoller "I asked the Captain "Shall I put the women and children in the boats?" The Captain replied, "Yes, and lower away." I later saw the Captain using a megaphone. He was ordering the lifeboats to come back. I heard him two or three times hail the lifeboats through the megaphone to return back to the ship." John Poing-Destre Heard the Captain say, "Start putting the women and children in the boats." Charles Hendrickson Heard the Captain tell the officer to put the women and children into the lifeboats. Robert Hichens Heard the Captain say, “Women and children first,” and the First officer repeated his words." 4th officer Joseph Boxhall Saw the Captain supervising the lifeboats as they were carefully lowered down. Also saw the Captain using his binoculars and watching the lights of a nearby ship. "He told me to use the morse lamp and say "Come at once, we are sinking." and he instructed me to fire the distress rockets." When Boxhall got into a lifeboat and rowed away he heard the Captain shout through a megaphone and ordering his boat to come back. Paul Mauge Saw the Captain encouraging the ladies to get into the lifeboats and reassuring them everything was all right. Hugh Woolner Saw the Captain encouraging the passengers to get into the lifeboats. "He said "Come along, madam," and that sort of thing." Thomas Jones "The Captain asked me was the plug in our lifeboat, and I answered, "Yes, sir." "All right," he said, "Any more ladies?" The Captain shouted again - in fact, twice again - "Any more ladies?" Hugh Woolner The Captain told him he wanted the passengers to walk down from the boat deck to the A-deck promenade and stay there and he instructed the officers to keep the lifeboats level with A-deck and not the boat deck because it was more convenient and it would allow the crew to do their job quicker on the boat deck with fewer people up there. Major Peuchen He said the Captain was doing everything in his power to get the women into the lifeboats, and he made sure they were being lowered properly. Hugh Woolner "I made one remark to him. He said: "I want all the passengers to go down on A-deck, because I intend they shall go into the boats from A-deck." I remembered noticing as I came up that all those glass windows were raised to the very top; and I went up to the Captain and saluted him and said: "Haven't you forgotten, sir, that all those glass windows are closed?" He said: "By God, you are right. Call those people back." Very few people had moved, but the few that had gone down the companionway came up again, and everything went on all right." Major Peuchen The Captain wanted him to help row one of the lifeboats. The Captain said to him, "You had better go down below and break a window and get in through a window, into the boat." I said I did not think it was feasible, and I said I could get in the boat if I could get hold of a rope." Mrs. Mahala Douglas Heard the Captain say "I want a megaphone! Just before we got into the lifeboat the Captain called out, "How many of the crew are in that boat? Get out of there, every man of you." Thomas Jones The Captain told him to row towards the light of a ship. "He told me to row for the light, and land the passengers and return to the ship." James Johnson The Captain told the officer to "pull for that light and come back again." Alfred Crawford He saw the Captain helping the crew lower lifeboat No. 8. "Captain Smith and the steward lowered the forward falls of the boat I was in." He came to the boat and asked how many men were in the boat. There were two sailors. "He told me to get into the boat." "He gave us instructions to pull to a light that he saw and then land the ladies and return back to the ship again." "He pointed in the direction of the two lights, and said: “Pull for that vessel; land your people and return to the ship.” Those were Captain Smith’s words." "He gave us instructions to pull to a light that he saw. He could see the light quite plain, as he pointed in the direction that we were to make for." Walter Wynn The Captain ordered him into the lifeboat. George Rowe The Captain ordered him into the lifeboat. William Burke The Captain was busy helping the crew on the port side and ordered the sailors to go aft and assist the crew on the starboard side with their lifeboats. Harold Bride (wireless operator) "The Captain came into the wireless room and told us we had better look out for ourselves." Samuel Hemming The Captain yelled out "Everyone over to the starboard side, to keep the ship up as long as possible." Edward Brown He saw the Captain still with a megaphone in his hand and heard him tell the crew "Well boys, do your best for the women and children, and look out for yourselves." He saw the Captain walk alone onto the bridge just moments before it went underwater. This was the last reailbe sighting of Smith.